BOA has the best ATM deposit for checks I've ever seen. Not to say other banks don't have this system but I've not seen it. When you deposit a check at our BOA atm's you are shown a visual scan of the check and asked to confirm a written amount shown for the check. Then when given the receipt you receive a copy of that scan. You also receive same day credit for the check deposit up till 8pm.

BOA has the best ATM deposit for checks I've ever seen. Not to say other banks don't have this system but I've not seen it. When you deposit a check at our BOA atm's you are shown a visual scan of the check and asked to confirm a written amount shown for the check. Then when given the receipt you receive a copy of that scan. You also receive same day credit for the check deposit up till 8pm.

Chase has exactly the same thing...no envelopes, deposit up to five checks at a time.

Hope the new bank works out for you, Harriet! It can't be much worse than BofA.

hehe, i just read this thread for the first time yesterday...turn off the computer and turn the tv on and what do i see? a commercial for BoA atm's that highlights the copy of the deposited check on the receipt...

as for banks, TD isn't the best. i MISS commerce! been with them for over 30 years...didn't even have to make any changes when i moved back to pa. not happy about this. received absolutely NO notification that they were sold. none. until the td logo showed up on the website and then, within a month all the branches had new signage.

changes in policies have been slow in coming - at least down here in pa. they are occuring though. further north, a friend worked for commerce up in rhode island/connecticut area - within 6 months after td took over, she actually left her job due to the changes in policies for employees (most benefits were cut down or cut out completely) as well as the policy changes with regard to customers and their accounts.

since td took over and they've starting implementing policy changes i've had my account types changed (to a lower type account, no interest), i've had checks processed for incorrect amounts (NEVER happened when it was commerce) and they've lost scheduled online payments.

really not pleased with the sell-out of commerce bank...i've said for at least 20 years, though, that his goal (can't remember his name atm) was to build up the bank by opening new branches and then he'd sell. so, not all that much of a surprise - didn't expect it to happen for another 10 years tho. AND he could've kept ownership in THIS country by selling to one of our institutions (td is canadian).

also have a cu account. well, i did, anyhoo, until i had a dispute of a credit card charge that the servicing company didn't do anything about and no one at the cu office would assist with and then the cu people decided to use my shares account to make intermittent minimum payments even though i had told them - repeatedly and in writing and verbally, that the item was in dispute. after the first time they did it, they again recieved verbal and written communication that they had no authorization to make payments against a disputed item. they continued anyway...

I've been with BofA since 1997. My accounts followed me from CA to TX and now IN. Unfortunately, there are no branches here (only withdraw-only ATMs). I do get live checks every so often, so I have to drive 150 miles to the nearest branch/deposit accepting ATM. I make these trips to coincide with client meetings in the area.

I haven't had any problems with BofA. Every bank has a horror story attached to it.

Me too, Stephen. I do some automated payments (car & Health Ins.) but all the normal bills get a stamp and a paper check. It's my link to the past, I guess !! I did the automated bill pay for utilities and credit cards several years ago and found I was losing touch with my 'daily budget' program. Forcing myself to write the checks seems to imprint my financial state into my mind in a much more useable way. We do use direct deposit and follow our accounts online, But the payments leave us a papertrail for now.

I don't have enough extra money to buy checks. They charge a ridiculous amount of money for them, and when you're on a shoestring budget every dollar counts. It costs nothing to have my bank send a check to someone, and I still have to do it monthly so I still have control over where my money goes and when. Also, it takes a LOT less time to process when they do it...one business day in most cases, maximum of four, between when I tell them to send payment and my account is credited. If I mail a check it takes a minimum of two weeks to process.

I used to be a big fan of direct deposit, ATM technology and online payments but now most of these services have or will have a fee attached.

A typical out of network ATM fee is $3.00 plus my bank charges $2.50 for the transaction. $5.50 total for a low voltage electronic transation. I should add that my bank does not have convenient locations even though it is a national bank (not BOFA).

I can go on and on about their supposed free checking and pathetic interest rates too. LOL

I'm reasonably happy with BofA as a customer, and unhappy as a small stockholder. Here in highly populated Massachusetts, we have lots of banking and credit union choices, so it is very easy to move. If bank x is screwing you, you can just move to a, b, or c. I feel badly for folks with few choices. USAA, which once catered to military officers is very good, as they refund most ATM/elec fees. They have , over the years, broadened membership. Basicly if you have ever served, honorably, you can join. If a family member is a member, you can join too, even if you never served. USAA lets you make deposits by scanning a check into your computer, so as long as you have an internet connection, it is easy to be a customer.

Bank of America has been involved in class-action suits just like some other financial institutions. Now, . Bank of America's customers, past and present, might get part of a class-action settlement. But don't expect a windfall. A federal judge in Miami Tuesday ordered the banking giant to pay parts of a $410 million settlement to more than 13million of its debit card consumers. The case alleges that the financial institution used a policy in posting its debit card transactions that resulted in more overdraft charges. Customers who can claim part of the settlement are those who were charged overdraft fees caused by the bank’s practice of posting debit card transactions from largest to smallest amount, instead of in the order they were made. It is a practice the bank discontinued in May, 2009.

I worked for B of A for a while in their "Customer Retention" call center. First of all, why would a bank need a retention call center if they were treating their customers properly to begin with? They would give high credit limits to high risk customers, let them run up their credit balances and then tell them they were going to raise their interest rates to some ridiculous number. Didn't want to pay it? OK. Then you could "Opt Out", which meant your account rate would be frozen but you had to pay it off as agreed. If you missed or was even a day late with a payment, or made even a $1 dollar purchase, they would automatically raise your interest rate to some God awful rate and retro charge it on the remaining balance on your acct. That put these people even further in debt. I did not stay there very long.

As an economist, let me put forward a villain: Hugh L. McColl, Jr. I doubt that one in a hundred of you ever heard of him but he was the driving force behind the bank consolidation that began in the 1980's, accelerated through the RTC in the 1990's, was given the financial equivalent of crack cocaine with the repeal of Glass-Steagall, and metastasized into the financial meltdown of 2008 which has left us all imperiled by a very literal Sword of Damocles: "too big to fail".

While we common folk are fretting about "fees" and generally getting our panties in a knot arguing about politics, no one seems to ask "why aren't the anti-trust laws being enforced"? Not one man in a hundred know that the Federal Reserve Bank is owned by the Member Banks and not one in a thousand realizes that there, behind closed doors, is blood on the Boardroom floor as one giant bank "kills" another (e.g., Wells Fargo's murder of Wachovia and theft of its assets).

Every dollar the Fed prints makes the one that exists in your pocket worth less. This quote describes the process perfectly:

"The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens". --John Maynard Keynes

(For those of you who think his credibility to have been damaged by the egregious failure of the "stimulus" programs, here are words from Lord Keynes shortly before his death: "I AM NOT a 'Keynesian'!!!")

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered...I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.". Thomas Jefferson

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered...I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.". Thomas Jefferson

Mr. Jefferson wrote many truths about Liberty, but none truer than those in the quote above.

Atricle I, Section 8 gives Congress (and Congress alone) the power to regulate the value of money. In the "Progressive Era" Congress "outsourced" this power to the Federal Reserve. The key function of the Fed is to provide "adequate liquidity" to the banking system. In the first major test of its efficacy, the bank failures of the early 1930's, it failed miserably and the Great Depression was the result. And now we have the present mess wherein the Fed is enabling the profiglacy of deficit spending by "monetizing" the an unsustainable debt that is accumulating at $4,000,000,000.00 A DAY! The last time we saw such insanity in an industrialized economy Adolph Hitler was the result. To quote Oliver Hardy: "This is some fine mess you've gotten us in".

MetroplexJim, Are you saying if Congress (and Congress alone) had the power to regulate the value of money they would not enable the profligacy of deficit spending? I thought the main idea behind an independent Fed was so they would take a longer term view that just to the next election. Another might be that the FED’s economists might know more about economics that a Congress full of lawyer/politicians.

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered...I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies... The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.". Thomas Jefferson

plb, In theory you are absolutely correct. That said, under the present extra-Constitutional, dysfunctional arrangements Congress is like the stereotypical spendthrift spouse who runs up bills without regard to household income and just lets their responsible mate "deal with it". When the sheriff finally comes to the door guess who gets the blame? The Fed could cut that crap in a heartbeat by simply refusing to monetize the debt and let interest rates rise. That is how Volker cleaned up the mess left him by Carter's initial Fed appointee, G. William Miller.

Presently, the Fed is now holding nearly $3T in Treasury paper which they "purchased" by creating money which is now held in the banking system as excess reserves. When that money goes out as loans a multiple of the $3T will be created and the Weimar Republic redux will be at our door. Frankly, I don't see how they can unwind this mess.

Note that Cong. Frank (D, MA) does not allow Paulson or Bernanke to answer Cong. Kanjorski's (D, PA) question about just what "would have been far worse".

On the morning of 09/18/2008 I had a breakfast at the Waffle House for which I debited by checking account for $6.72. If I can go online and "look that up", why can't the Fed (or the NSA) tell us the origin of the electronic bank run? In terms of cost to the ecoonmy that was nothing less than the ultimate terrorist act, yet i'll bet you never heard of it.

At $5.14/ share, I think it's time to buy. Never stop believing in the Capitalist System!

MetroplexJim, How does an intelligent guy like you end up at Five Guys

1) I agree. When Ford hit a buck and refused a bailout, I bought and sold @$16!

2) Thank you, but I'm not as smart as you think: interesting story Re: Five Guys.

I was one of their "original" patrons of their first store and despite the loud music and no place to sit down, loved their burgers and the free peanuts. In 1990 a buddy of mine and I decided to go into the fast-food biz and opened the first D.C.-area store of a small, now defunct fast-food franchise out of Florida that featured never-frozen burgers.

I told my buddy then that I wished Five Guys was a franchise as they served the same burger, and had lower overhead, and a limited menu. We opened in the Fall of 1993 and did $35,000/week on a $14,000/week break-even. After six months the business stabilized at $28,000 a week and the franchisor dictated that we change to a frozen 1/4# patty processed by Wis-Pak (saved labor, portion control, less perishability, yik, yik; yak, yak). Well, the customers evidently tasted the difference and the weekly quickly fell to $20K and food costs soared due to cases of burgers "growing legs and walking out with the trash". After another year we sold the business to some Koreans with cash. What a relief! How I wish I had invested that cash with Jerry Murrell as he was thinking about opening his second store!

Snopes also says, A couple of similar statements have likewise been attributed to Jefferson and sometimes appended to the quotation in question: "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies" and "The issuing power [of money] should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." Although these statements likewise lack documentation establishing them as authentically Jeffersonian, the former is a reasonably close paraphrase of the closing sentence in Jefferson's 28 May 1816 letter to John Taylor:

"And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."

Chewingthefat said to short sell BofA on November 23rd when the price was $5.15, today it closed at $5.56, a gain of 10% in 8 days. What great financial advice.

Maybe Chewingthefat missed the news that Warren Buffet lent BoA $5B @8% secured by warrants. Several years ago he acquired a large interest in Wells Fargo which subsequently "stole" Wachovia for pennies on the dollar during the fallout of the "crisis".

Just the other day it was revealed that the Fed increased the reserves of the member banks (the Fed's OWNERS) by $7.7 Trillion. (For those of you who are more used to smaller denominations, that's $7,700 Billion). That was 11 times the infamous $700 Billion TARP and it was done in secret, behind closed doors.